Chapter 36
36
JOHNNY
Daisy steals a grape from Aurora’s plate and continues to talk her ear off with information on our parents and sisters. Our moms are watching from the end of the patio table, speaking amongst themselves instead of joining our conversation. They’ve always been the gentle, relaxed types, and from the single interaction they’ve had with Rory, they read her nearly as well as I can.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to tell my girl isn’t a social butterfly, and in an environment like this, where everyone’s loud and cheery and lacks the ability to give you personal space, it’s obvious she’s a bit uncomfortable.
I’ve been to a million of these barbeques in my lifetime, and I’ve never been as happy at one as I am with her beside me, socially awkward or not. I’m pretty sure I could sit with her in silence for the rest of my life if given the opportunity.
Daisy, however, doesn’t share the same sentiment. She thrives off conversation with friends or strangers and can’t stay silent for longer than a few minutes at a time before starting up again. It’s why she excels in school settings, especially with children. They talk even more than she does .
“Giana hates this town. She hasn’t been back since last Christmas,” she tells Rory, not bothering to hush her words.
“She doesn’t hate this town. Her work doesn’t give her many days off,” I correct her.
“That’s just an excuse she tells us so the moms don’t lecture her.” Daisy takes another grape from Aurora’s plate and tells her, “Gi’s the social media manager for the Vancouver Warriors NHL team. I’m pretty sure that means she gets summers off.”
“So she gets to take videos of them doing those stretches on the ice for a living?” Rory asks.
I lean my elbow on the table and gape at her. “Is that what you’ve been doing once I fall asleep at night? Watching those videos?”
She shrugs. “No. I watch them while you’re awake.”
Daisy laughs so loud she draws the attention of nearly every person standing around the yard. She doesn’t pay a single one of them attention as she keeps focused on Aurora.
“I like you. You’ve got that blunt honour that I think is all too refreshing.”
“Some people think it’s rude,” Rory says.
“That’s because some people think just about everything is rude when they lack a sense of humour.”
Rory stares at my sister with a soft look, an appreciative one. It makes my chest damn near explode with affection. I’ll be thanking Daisy for this later.
“One of these fuckers here stole the turkey burger I had Mama get grilled for me,” Josette grumbles, taking the empty seat beside Aurora. She drops her plate to the table and jabs her fork into the heaping pile of potato salad she gave herself before shoving it into her mouth. “I should have had someone brand it with my initials or something.”
Rory stares at her in surprise, and I hide my laugh with a cough. Daisy rolls her eyes at our older sister.
“Are you going to introduce yourself to Johnny’s girlfriend, Josie Cat?” she asks .
As if just realizing the woman she sat beside is Aurora, Jos swallows loudly and snatches Daisy’s napkin to wipe her mouth.
The glare she gives me before attempting a smile in Rory’s direction threatens pain. “I’m Josette. Jos is preferred. I’m sorry that you saw that.”
“I’m Rory. And don’t apologize. You were being genuine.”
“Genuinely rude ,” Daisy says.
Jos levels her with a dull look. “I’m hangry. You can leave me alone.”
“Girls, can you please not fight at the dinner table? We’re not at home right now. There are special guests with us,” Mama says.
I stroke a hand across Rory’s shoulder blades as if to remind myself that yeah, she actually is here with us right now. With me.
“I actually like the fighting. There wasn’t anything like this for me when I was growing up being an only child and all,” Rory says, her cheeks and neck turning pink as everyone stares at her.
“Well, you’ll find a lot of it at our house. There’s never a dull moment,” Mom pipes up. “These three used to cause quite the uproar when they were kids. What was it that Jos stole from you, Johnny?”
“Which time?” I snort a laugh. “The worst I remember from back then was when she stole my DS because she wanted to play Nintendogs, then ended up dropping the whole damn thing in a puddle and broke it.”
“Oh, God. Not the DS. You didn’t go anywhere without that thing. What was the game you played all the time? Indiana Jones?” Daisy asks.
“ LEGO Indiana Jones,” I answer.
Jos taps her fork to her plate, grinning wide. “Shit, you were obsessed with that game and the movie.”
“He dressed up as him for like six Halloweens in a row,” Daisy adds .
Aurora picks up the last grape on her plate before Daisy can get to it and lifts it in front of her smirk. “I was the same way with Lara Croft and Tomb Raider.”
Fuck. Of course she was the female equivalent of Indiana Jones. And she still doesn’t believe in fate? Not a goddamn chance.
“Maybe you two should dress up in matching costumes for Halloween. There’s always a big party for it at Peakside to celebrate our birthday,” Daisy says.
Rory turns to me, surprised. “Your birthday is on Halloween?”
“Yeah, darlin’.”
“I hate sharing a birthday with a day like Halloween, but it could be worse. We could have been born on Christmas,” Daisy says, scrunching her nose.
“I should have asked you this before, but when’s your birthday?” I ask Rory, scooting my chair as close to hers as I can. When our knees touch, I stop moving.
“May.”
“Jos’s birthday is in May,” Daisy butts in.
I’m grateful that Rory and I have finished eating already because I’m desperate to get her away from my family. I love them to death, but they can be a lot.
“I think I heard that Darren and his daughter just got here,” I announce, standing and beginning to collect our empty plates. “It would be rude not to welcome them.”
Daisy looks around the yard. “You did? I didn’t hear anything.”
“Oh, well, we’ll go check it out anyway.”
Staring up at me with a knowing glint in her eyes, Rory lets me pile her plate atop mine. She gets to her feet and walks with me to the garbage bin I hauled in from the street for my moms this morning.
“You could have made up a better excuse than that,” she says, holding open the lid for me to dump our plastic plates inside.
“I wanted to be alone with you so badly I wasn’t thinking straight.”
“You’re a cheeseball.”
“Yet you love me anyway,” I tease.
She rolls her eyes and drops the lid. “Yeah, I do.”
“I’m sorry for my family. They were just excited to meet you and have another woman to talk to, as if five weren’t already enough.”
“I like them. It’s nice to be surrounded by so much family.”
“Yeah?” I can’t help but grin, tucking my finger into one of her belt loops. “Can you imagine yourself here often? Not with this many people around, of course. But with my parents and sisters?”
She keeps her eyes on mine, her gaze open and honest as she says, “Yes.”
My lips part on words that never come when she lifts her hand and, in one steady movement, steals the hat from my head before dropping it on hers.
It’s too fucking big for her, drooping low in the front to shade her eyes but not low enough to hide her beaming grin. I focus on that smile while flicking the hat back and gripping her nape, tipping her head back.
“You make a claim like this in public, and there’s no coming back from it, darlin’.”
Her pupils swell, melting into the dark blue surrounding them. “Good. Do we get to leave now?”
My chuckle kisses her lips before I chase after them myself. “Yeah, baby. Let’s go home.”
And fuck it, I don’t care which home I’m talking about. Hers or mine, it doesn’t matter. I’d consider any place with her home.
The sound of a throat clearing close by has me stiffening, an unusual blast of possessiveness following after. Maybe it’s the setting or the fact I have my woman standing in front of me asking me to take her home wearing my hat on her head, but I don’t want a single other person close to us right now. I want her all to myself.
Leaning past her, I take a look at the couple waiting a few feet away from us and rein in my frustration. Inhaling deeply, I press my lips to her forehead and release her neck.
“James and Bernice?” I ask, dropping my hand to hold Rory’s shoulder as she tenses at the names.
The elderly woman nods, her gaze so intense it’s almost painful. Her hair is silver throughout and tied in a bun at the base of her skull, but she reaches upward to fiddle with it as if it were loose. When Rory turns to face them, Bernice sucks in a sharp breath.
“I knew you were Lee’s daughter from across the yard, but up close . . .” The man trails off, staring at Rory in disbelief, like he can’t believe it’s really her.
He’s much taller than his wife, but they share the silver-hair thing they have going on. The crinkles beside his eyes tell of a life filled with happiness and laughter, but that doesn’t mean much right now.
“Did Eliza invite you here?” Rory asks bluntly.
Bernice’s smile is nothing more than a slight curl at the corner of her mouth. “Yes. But please don’t be upset with her. I’m happy she did. We both are.”
“We should go inside if you want to talk more,” I suggest, jerking my chin in the direction of the back sliding door leading inside the house. The gossip mill has got to be turning already, but some privacy is better than none.
Rory nods, and her approval is all that matters to me.
“That would be great,” Bernice agrees.
I link my fingers with Rory’s, and we move inside. My moms don’t like to let everyone in during events like this without supervision, and I’m grateful for that right now as I welcome them into the living room and wait for them to sit on the couch before claiming a spot on the love seat. Aurora joins me, and I sling my arm over the back of the couch behind her so I can play with the ends of her hair.
Bernice sets a wrinkled hand on James’s thigh and straightens, focusing on her granddaughter. “We . . . we don’t know where to begin. An apology feels insubstantial.”
“What do you have to apologize for?” Rory asks.
“That’s the question, isn’t it? Everything is too broad. But apologizing on behalf of our son isn’t enough,” James says.
Rory shifts, her thigh pressing hard to mine. “My mom didn’t write about you much in the letters I found. I know a lot about her family, enough about your son, but not anything about you. That’s what I’m most interested in. I have questions about you, but also about the Roses in general. Would you answer them for me?”
“Yes, yes you can ask anything you want. I—I’m sorry. We’re just having a hard time believing what we’re seeing. You’re our granddaughter, no doubt about it. But when Eliza called, I could hardly believe her. It didn’t seem logical. How could we have not felt you out there somewhere? We should have,” Bernice says, her voice tapering into a pained whisper. “But I feel it now just looking at you. Right in my heart.”
“So do I,” James agrees, eyes full of bewilderment.
Rory holds firm, so damn strong. “Your son didn’t share the sentiment.”
Bernice flinches like Rory had reached across the gap between us and slapped her. She sniffles, blinking a dozen times. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
“What happened with Riley? Was this recent?” James asks.
“He could barely love the daughter he knew. How could he have possibly wanted another?” Aurora’s voice cracks midway through, and I shift her as close to me as possible without tugging her onto my lap. She grips my knee and continues. “My relationship with Riley is non-existent, and it will stay like that. The only thing I care about now is having someone answer my questions.”
“Then let us answer them. We’ll tell you everything we know,” Bernice says, nearly rambling in an attempt to speak as quickly as possible.
James stares at Aurora, reading something in her expression that I wish I could see. “It doesn’t have to be today. We know you’re busy, and we’ve just sprung up in the middle of the day with no warning. We’ll be here for a few days, staying over with Eliza and Wade. You want to talk, just give them a ring. Anytime, Aurora.”
“Okay. Another day, then.”
“Another day,” Bernice agrees.
Nobody moves, as if commanded by some higher power to stay where we are, until Rory suddenly jolts to her feet. I join her, and then the Roses follow. It’s one of the most awkward situations I’ve ever been in as we all stand in silence, Bernice and James watching Rory like she’s a gift from God while she reaches for my hand and grips me for dear life.
There are no friendly goodbyes or hugs shared between anyone. Rory mutters a quiet “See you later,” and her grandparents return the sentiment before I spin us around and we head right for the front door, bypassing the rest of the party.
Rory doesn’t question me or where I’m taking us as we head for my truck. There’s only one place I know will help clear her mind, and as far as I’m concerned, that’s all that matters right now.